So engrossed was Damien in looking at the picture that the sudden sound of Ally’s voice behind him; as pleasing as it was; caused him to jump in his seat. He was about to say something when the sudden sound of a throaty croak came took centre stage. As quickly as she appeared; she was gone and then back again, this time placing a basket before him

Damien’s eyes flicked from Ally to the woven basket and back; her warning set off alarm bells in his head; the thought of any mutated physical changes as a result of eating whatever lay within would only compound the already curious day he was having; This was a tough decision; he needed help, so there was only one thing he could do. Damien rolled the dice:

Damien jolted back in his chair as the toad jumped out; so much so that for a moment it teetered on its two back legs and he flapped his arms about to regain his balance; the chair falling forward, onto four legs again with a solid thud

A sudden swirl of air across his ear caused him to yelp as the dragon swept past and then tackled the errant toad. He looked up at her; a smile on his face. “I think these could be a bit of a handful if they became popular.” he grinned at the thought of chocolate toads hopping all about the shop; a chaotic image.

Ally arrived at the table, a twist of string in hand. Looping it deftly, she tied it about the frog's leg and handed the end of the string to Damien, laughing. "Well here's a way of keeping them secured, I guess." The dragon let out a steady stream of powdered sugar before landing on her shoulder again.

Damien couldn’t help but smile as Ally quickly looped the string around his finger; he felt it tug as the chocolate toad hopped the width of the table and teetered at the edge. Sensing it could go no further it glanced back; seemingly aware that Damien was impeding its natural desires. With a grin he tugged on it and the Toad spilled backwards before righting itself in the middle of the table. It looked up with; almost puppy dog eyes, or should that tadpole eyes.

"Hey." Ally shook her finger at the toad. "Don't try that look. I invented that look." She stuck her tongue out at the toad before leaning back against a table again. "So licked the back of a toad, hm? What did it taste like?" The curiosity on her face spelled that it was more than just polite interest that was prompting her to ask the question.

Damien watched the toad shift uncomfortably at the chastisement from its creator; for a moment the toad looked shifty and then waddled across to the plate where upon it flicked out its tongue against the last few crumbs. He nodded softly as he watched it; her words rekindled some memory. He sat silent for a moment, trying to piece together the fragmented thoughts that run through his head.

“For the life of me I cannot remember why I was doing it; but I recall a texture like treacle almost with a taste that was like licking a road on a hot day; but by the second lick you really couldn’t care.” for a moment he wandered whether it might have been the licking of toads that had bought on his loss of faculties; maybe not. “I have no doubt that your toad would be far superior in the taste department.”

"I should hope so." Ally grinned before flicking a crumb at the toad, watching as its tongue lashed out and catching it. The dragon made a low purr next to her ear, as though to remind her of its presence. "Anyway, I hope that was a dare or something and not part of your regular diet." Her nose wrinkled. "I can't imagine that being too healthy."

Wiggling her fingers at him, she headed back for the counter again. "Tell me if you need anything? Or just yell."

Damien’s look was still fixed on the toad tethered to his finger as it; having realised that hopping would do it not good, now waddled across the table. It lifted itself up onto his long hind legs; hooked its front toes over the side of the glass and tried to angle itself so that it could see what was in the bottom of the glass perhaps.

He was fixed with fascination; so as Ally spoke he answered without thought or even acknowledgement. “It was part of a trial to be accepted; being the outsider it was about the only way I could become informal with the tribe.”

The toad overbalanced and fell onto its back; bringing the glass down with it. Damian reached quickly for it so that it wouldn’t roll onto the floor; then the mist that had been in his gaze disappeared and he turned a little confused towards Ally as she went about her business. “Sorry; not sure what I was going on about there.”

Ally spun about at his words, blinking at him curiously over the glass shelf. The bells swung against her, jingling against her cheek before coming to a stop. "A trial? Exactly what kind of a trial?" For the life of her, she couldn't imagine the timid man before her involved in anything that would require the licking of a toad. She shook her head, sending the bells jingling again. "Oh. Right. Can't remember anything." She laughed, her eyes still lit with curiosity. "You must have led an interesting life though."

Damien’s expression was one of searching curiosity; for a moment he had been distracted as he spoke and that had allowed some buried thought to make its way to the surface without anything to impede it, but once there, the knowledge had both confused and slightly alarmed him. He turned and looked a towards Ally; as he did so caught sight of the clock hung on the back wall. His eyes went wide; was that really the time; all of a sudden he was a flurry of ill coordinated movements, clouded with panic as he tried to do a hundred things at once.

He made a grab for his jacket, the weight in the inside pocket swinging against the table leg; Damien winced at the unheard cursing; Sorry! he said in general. He fished his hand into his pocket and placed his dice on the table as pay… wait; he pocket the dice and fished in the other pocket and this time successfully produced a few coins, he paused and looked over them; he didn’t recognise them but they seemed very old and he had a lot of them; the one side depicting some wizened old man in a headress. They clattered against the plate as he moved from the table.

He had completely forgotten that the chocolate toad was still tethered to his finger and currently trying to weather the storm of Damien’s hurry. “So so..so..sorry; I j..j..j..just real..lised the t..t..time; I am g..g..oing to be so l..late.” he flashed a brief but genuine smile towards Ally as he make a sharp turn to the door; the toad just managing to bound after him as the door shut. As the door shut Damien was almost pulled from his feet; the tail of his coat having gotten caught in it. He went red faced and grinned as he opened the door a little and pulled his coat free before running up the street.

Aoi and Rex looked up as Damien suddenly starting as he flew into motion. Aoi giggled and poked Rex, remembering him doing the same thing. As Damien left, Aoi started drawing a picture of Damien and the poor toad who was hopping behind him. It was quite hilarious but she kept her amusement to herself.

Ally stared at the flurry of movement from Damien, her expression that of baffled amusement. "Um. Okay?" She returned his smile. She cast a look at Aoi and Rex, catching the sketch. Her lips twitched a little before she went about cleaning up the table. She swept the coins up, studying them curiously. Palming one, she headed back to the counter again.

Look like she had some research to do tonight.

---

Green bells jingled in her hair as Ally made her way up to the shop again. Striped black and white knee-length socks clad her legs as the red skirt flared about her. This time, a laptop bag swung against the back of her thigh as she approached the shop.

Pushing open the door, she slipped into the kitchen again, turning on the lights with a flick of her fingers. Blowing a kiss to the fairy in the mural again, she settled down behind a table, turning on the laptop. The metal of the coin clicked against the table as she began working through the web.

Ira walked the streets as he normally did on his way to work. The twenty-eight year old male pushed his glasses up his nose and looked at the roads. He always had a choice. Take the long way or cut through the busy little shopping street. On an average day he would just take the long way, not wanting to be bothered by the hustle and bustle of everyday life for other people. That would be too much social interaction for someone like him. Though he always left it up to chance. A flip of the coin. Sadly, this was the biggest thing he had going for his life. Deciding which road to take to work.

The small silver coin rested in the palm of his gloved hand and he flicked it into the air above him, watching it fly up and then come slamming back down to the ground at his feet. Heads was the long way and Tails was the short way. Normally, it landed on heads. Much to the surprise of the hazel eyed man, it landed on tails for once, "...huh..." his eyes looked up at the busy shopping street in dreaded horror. It was bad enough when he had to walk down the halls of the school he worked at during passing period; this might be too much for his fragile mental state.

With a gulp, he headed down the shopping street, leaving the coin behind on the ground. The slender male kept as close to the walls as possible and avoided all contact with others. He was almost free and could see the top of the school building from where he stood. But something caught his nose. Something he hadn’t smelt since he was a child and his nanny snuck it in for him. Chocolate. That wonderful, sweet food. Ira hadn’t tasted chocolate since he was ten. It had never crossed his mind to buy any; it would have been a waste of money. At least that’s what everyone had always told him. The smell of it hit him hard and he found it hard to ignore.

The male’s eyes darted around for the source of the sweet smell and he found it quickly. Dare he go into that little shop that looked so different from the others? He really didn’t have to go to work today, he was just going into have something to do with himself. It wouldn’t kill him to go in and have one little piece of chocolate, would it? No one would know.

As if he were doing something wrong, he darted into the shop, jumping a little at the sound of the little door bells jingling. Now came the hard part. Ira lacked the idea of what to do in a situation like this. He’d never been in a place like this. Did he just sit at a table and someone would come to him or did he go to the counter? Confused, he wandered slowly up to the counter and stood there silently, waiting for something to happen.

Ira looked startled and stared at the woman blankly for a moment, "Ummm..." he found himself sitting at a table near the counter and still staring blankly at the female, "Well...Chocolate I guess," he didn't really know what else to say. He didn't know there were different types or that it came with other stuff sometimes. He just knew that he smelt it and he found himself wanting it.

"You're going to have to be a bit more specific than that." Ally braced her hips against the side of the counter as she closed her laptop with a snap. She grinned. "We have hot chocolate, chocolate truffles, chocolate pastries-wait, no chocolate pastries yet, and of course," she leaned forward, her smile mischievous, "my chocolate surprise." Bells jingling, she moved back again. "I'm Ally, by the way."

The male seemed a little over whelmed by the options. He didn't know that things like that were around, well he did, but it was never a thought that he'd had before. Sugar was very restricted when he was growing up and he never really had a reason to stop that restriction as he got older, "...Surprise?" he said softly. Surprises weren't really the best things for him, but if he was going to do something that he normally wouldn't, then why not start with something small like chocolate, "...I'll have that...I guess," his cheeks flushed just slightly, "I'm Ira Luxuria, Madam," he said very properly, feeling embarrassed that he'd forgotten his manners.

Ally stared at him before doubling over with laughter. "Madam?" Giggling, she shook her head. "Wow. Wait until Vi hears that. No. Ally is fine." She shot him another grin before heading to the back kitchen, the skirt sashaying behind her as she did so.

She re-emerged a few minutes later. For once, her creation was without its usual...unconventional ingredients. She put the plate of ginger-infused chocolate balls in front of Ira and watched, fair bouncing with anticipation. "Try it?" She prompted, nudging the plate at him.

Ira blushed again and looked down at the table in embarrassment. Most of the women that he'd had to deal with in life liked to be called 'Madam'. Oh well, he'd embarrassed himself a lot already, how much worse could it get? With his luck the roof would cave in and he'd be blamed for it. That would just top off a good day, now wouldn't it?

Sighing softly, he stared down at the table and waited. At least this time Ira didn't jump when the woman named Ally reappeared and set the plate down in front of him, "Thank you, Ma...Ally..." he corrected himself quickly. The smell of the chocolate was intoxicating to him. Politely, he removed his gloves and set them on the table near the plate, "I'm sure they're wonderful," the male said softly before picking up one of the chocolate balls and inspecting it curiously, wondering what the surprise was.

Cautiously, he popped it into his mouth and bit down. He felt like melting. It had been so long since he'd tasted sugar. The fact that there was a taste of ginger in there as well didn't seem to hit him. All he could taste was the chocolate, "...wow..." he said softly quickly ate another one, "What's all in this?" he asked shyly.

Ally clapped her hands in glee at his response. "Oh good." She spun about, bells dancing against her dark hair.

The sugared dragon came flying from the shelf and landed on her shoulders. Its ruby eyes peered at Ira curiously before a wisp of powder curled up from its nostrils. "Hey. Be nice." She stroked its scaly head with the tip of her finger. "No eating the customer now." She gave a small giggle.

"And," she leaned towards him, the smell of chocolate and sugar wafting about her, "if I tell you, I would have to kill you. A magician never reveals her secret, don't you know?" She gave him a wink. "Anything else that I can get for you?"

Ira had been relatively calm since he'd been in there and he was actually happy eating his chocolate. But his eyes widened at the sight of something he'd never seen before. Was that a dragon of sorts? Was there drugs in this chocolate? Oh god, if they drug tested him for some reason, he'd lose his job and never find another teaching job, "What the..." was all he got out before falling backwards from the table and scrambling to his feet, "Is that...a...a...dragon?" he'd only ever thought of dragons before. The last story he'd written contained a dragon.

This couldn't be happening, "...Kill me? Magician? Are you putting drugs in your candy?" he wasn't shouting, but his voice was louder than it had been in years. Ira's hazel eyes stared at the dragon thing in amazement, "I'm going to get fired from my job for drugs...this can't be happening..." he started to mutter to himself, over reacting to the situation. Twenty-eight years of never having a surprise and this is what was happening to him now.

Ally blinked at his reaction. The dragon sniffed in Ira's direction, looking entirely unimpressed by the display. "He's just a little thing, he won't hurt anyone." She reassured him. As though to prove her wrong, the dragon bared his fangs before a small roar erupted from his mouth. Its tail curled about her shoulder, twitching in the manner of a satisfied, well-fed cat.

"And who said anything about drugs?" Ally grinned at him as she leaned back against the counter. "Just chocolate. Simple chocolate. Do I look like someone that would slip drugs into your chocolate without you asking for them?" She paused. "Not that I would anyway. Really. I never did- well, I did once. It was an accident. I swear."

Ira was in shock. This was crazy. If it wasn't drugs, then what the hell was it? Ira didn't care if that thing could hurt him or not, that didn't explain where the hell it came from or how it came to be, "Where...did it come from?" he asked cautiously. Jumping a little when the thing gave the small roar at him. It may of been small, but it did have teeth, or so it seemed.

"Just chocolate...huh..." he muttered, not taking his eyes off the dragon, "Then explain to me where that thing came from? Dragons aren't real," Ira looked around some, but didn't seem to see anyone else in the store to back him up, "You're going to kill me, aren't you? You just use this shop as a front..." he had to jump to conclusions cause a dragon went against everything he knew to be true.

Ally peered at him at him from behind loose strands of hair. "It came from the kitchen?" She stroke the dragon's head again as it snapped its mouth shut, another wisp of powdered sugar curling about him. "Or it came from my imagination. Depends on how you see it, I guess." She gave a small laugh before hopping onto the counter, crossing her leg.

"And dragons are real." She frowned at him. "I can assure you that he's real." She poked at the dragon. "And I don't kill people. Not intentionally anyway." She grinned at him. "So sit down and finish your chocolate. Then tell me what you're doing here and why are you here?"